Fence



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH M. SHERIFF, OF MERCER, PENNSYLVANIA.

FENCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 396,299, dated January15, 1889. Application filed October 19, 1888. Serial No. 288,555. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH IWI. SHERIEF, a citizen of the United States,residing at Mercer, in the county of Hercer and State of Pennsylvania,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fences, of whichthe following is a specification, reference being had therein to theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure l represents a side elevation ofa fence-panel constructed according to my invention; Fig. 2, aperspective view of one picket and the contiguous portions of, thehorizontal fence-wire rails; Fig. 3, a detail sectional view, slightlyenlarged to show more clearly my new method of securing the pickets tothe fence-rails; Fig. 4, a similar view showing' the fastening-wirecontinuous.

The invention has for its obj ects to provide an extremelyv simple,inexpensive, and practical method of securing pickets to the horizontalrails of a fence by means of peculiarlyconstructed wire fasteners, aswill more fully hereinafter appear.

In the drawings annexed, A A designate two ordinary fence-posts, betweenwhich are tautly stretched suitable horizontal wire rails, B B. Tirerails are shown, and are preferred in carrying out my invention; but itis evi dentthat other rails may be employed, if found desirable oradvantageous.

The pickets O are secured to the horizontal wires B, at theirintersection with the same, by means of wire fasteners D, the picketsbeing preferably held up off of the ground, as shown. These fastenerseach consist, preferably, of a single piece of wire bent into propershape by means of suitable tools.

Each fastener is constructed as follows: One end of the wire is securelyattached to the fence-rail B by twisting it around the same, as shown ata, the free end of the wire being carried around in front of the picketand passed through a horizontal aperture, b, in the same. The wire isthen bent around the fencerail and passed back again through hole I),forming a loop, c, through which the fencewire B passes. carried to theother side of the picket and secured to the main wire again, as at a.Instead of first securing the end of the wire to the rail, as abovedescribed, it is evident that any other method of applying the fastenermay be adopted. For instance, the wire may be bent about midway itslength to form the loop c and the two ends of the wire then passedthrough the hole in the picket and bent around and secured to thefence-rail upon opposite sides of the picket.

It is evident that instead of using separate wires for each picket, asshown in Figs. l, 2, and 3, (which construction I prefer,) several or'any number of them may be formed of one piece of wire, as shown in Fig.4.

The fastener as thus constructed is easily applied and will effectuallyprevent the pickets sagging. It also avoids the use of grooves orstaples in the same to bind the pickets to the rails. An importantadvantage of this particular construction of fastener lies in the factthat the greater the tendency of the pickets to sag the greater will bethe force exerted by the fasteners to bind them to the rails.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination, with a fence rail and picket, the latter being bored orpunctured horizontally, as at Z), of a wire fastener, D, secured to thefence-rail at its ends and provided with a loop, c, said loop passingthrough the hole in the picket and embracing the fence-rail,substantially as described.

.In testimony whereof I afIiX my sign ature in presence of twowitnesses.

JOSEPH M. SHERIFF.

IVitnesses:

H. H. ZEIGLER, J ..R. W. BAKER.

The end of the Wire is then

